Weather Will Hamper Search for Missing Plane

A plane with 16 people onboard, including two babies, went missing in themountainous area of Indonesia's Papua province on Sunday. The Merpati Airlinesplane flying from Jayapura at 10:15 p.m. local time was supposed to reach atOksibil at 11:05, but the plane never arrived.Contact with the plane was lost about 40 minutes into the flight which usuallytakes about 50 minutes. According to the Associated Press, the plane was lastheard from at a height of 9,500 feet. Some of the mountains in the center ofthe island province of the nation are over 15,000 feet.

Aircraft Similar to Missing Plane (APPhoto/NOAA)District mountain transport head Dumaroni suggested that the weather may havebeen a factor in the plane's disappearance, because the weather in themountainous areas is so changeable.Within hours after contact was lost with the plane, showers and thunderstormsspread across the island, hampering any search efforts.

The mountainous terrain and rugged forest combined with the continued threatfor rain and thunderstorms will work against search and rescue efforts over thenext several days. This is a region of Indonesia in which many planes have gonemissing in the past, and some of them have never been found.

Four planes were sent out on Monday, and there was no success in finding themissing plane or wreckage from a crash.